..The influence of prior antibiotic exposure on hospital length of stay (LOS) and costs in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock attributed to Gram-negative bacteremia has not been previously examined...

..e., antibiotic heterogeneity) can be part of a broader effort aimed at curtailing antibiotic resistance within ICUs. Such efforts should be routine, given the limited availability of new antibiotic drug classes for the foreseeable future...

..Studies are needed to define the optimal choice of antibiotic for pneumonias caused by this organism, and these choices will need to be balanced with the need to minimize the emergence of resistance...

..Because of these problems, when using vancomycin, it is probably prudent to carefully establish the diagnosis, test for antimicrobial susceptibility, and monitor serum trough concentrations to ensure adequate dosing...

Clinical characteristics and treatment patterns among patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia

..To evaluate clinical characteristics and treatment patterns among patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), including the implementation of and outcomes associated with deescalation therapy...

Appropriate empiric antimicrobial therapy of nosocomial pneumonia: the role of the carbapenems

..To evaluate the relationship between nosocomial infections and clinical outcomes following cardiac surgery, and to identify risk factors for the development of nosocomial infections in this patient population...

The influence of mini-BAL cultures on patient outcomes: implications for the antibiotic management of ventilator-associated pneumonia

..These findings suggest that similar types of guidelines employing local microbiological data can be used to improve overall antibiotic utilization for the treatment of ventilator-associated pneumonia...

..Careful, focused attention to this problem at the local ICU level, using a multidisciplinary approach, will have the greatest likelihood of limiting the development and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant infections...

..The aim of this study is to describe the initial antibiotic treatment regimens, severity of illness, and in-hospital mortality among culture-negative (CN) and culture-positive (CP) patients with health-care-associated pneumonia (HCAP)...

..2. Identify problems in the implementation of the designed intervention. 3. Update the intervention with solutions for the identified problems. 4. Collect basic data (e.g., VAP rates, severity of illness)...

..These infection-control policies also require the presence of a dedicated group of infection-control practitioners to provide education, collect surveillance data, and oversee the implementation of the local infection-control plan...

..Unfortunately, the application of SDD has been associated with emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, limiting its overall utility...

The epidemiology, pathogenesis and treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections

James A DriscollDivision of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, USADrugs 67:351-68. 2007

..Multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa may require treatment with less commonly used antibacterials (e.g. colistin), but newer anti-pseudomonal antibacterials are expected to be available in the near future...

..7 d, respectively; p = 0.001). These data suggest that clinicians living in an area where Ehrlichia is endemic should have a high suspicion for ehrlichiosis, and a low threshold for instituting empiric antibiotic therapy with doxycycline...

..aureus infection. However, MRSA-colonized patients may have more comorbidities than methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA)-colonized or noncolonized patients and therefore may be more susceptible to infection on that basis...

Bacteremia increases the risk of death among patients with soft-tissue infections

..Given the evidence supporting greater morbidity, hospital mortality, and medical care costs among patients who have VAP, the prevention of this nosocomial infection should be an important priority in the hospital setting...

An educational intervention to reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia in an integrated health system: a comparison of effects

..imipenem-cilastatin) was not predictive of outcomes, thus suggesting that the treatment regimens were equivalent. Both levofloxacin and imipenem-cilastatin regimens were well tolerated and had similar adverse event profiles...

Linezolid for treatment of ventilator-associated pneumonia: a cost-effective alternative to vancomycin

..g., bronchoscopy) remains unclear. We hypothesized that invasive testing would alter antibiotic management in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia but would not necessarily alter mortality...

Risk factors for ventilator-associated pneumonia: from epidemiology to patient management